How the Cookies Crumbled
by Wonkaverse
Summary: A group of Girl Scouts find their way into Wonka's recently reopened factory. How will Willy Wonka handle the intrusion? Written in response to a comment by valued reader JOHNHAMMOND1993.
1. Meet the Troop

**Disclaimer:** We own neither Willy Wonka nor Oompa-Loompas. Thank you.

 **Author's Note** : Written in response to the request of valued reader JOHNHAMMOND1993. Thanks for reading! We hope you enjoy it!

* * *

It was probably curiosity that had driven Lily Small to join the Girl Scout troop in her neighborhood. But now, as she trudged at the end of the group, hauling a heavy wagon full of cookie boxes from door to door...she couldn't help but feel a pang of regret. It was a frosty-cold morning, the cobblestone pavement flecked with bits of ice from last night's rain. Lily could feel the cold through her shoes - the hard, close-toed kind that were part of the troop uniform - but she didn't dare complain. The troop leader, whose name was Samantha Potts, did not take kindly to complainers. She was known to discourage complaining with harsh words...and sometimes with her fists. the other girls in the group (there were three of them) were not as mean as Samantha, but they all treated Lily with the same indifference as one would treat an old shoe.

There were normally ten girls in the troop, but the other five had not come along because their mothers did not want them to catch the cold. Samantha was smart enough to not argue with mothers, so she had gone out without telling her own mother, and "convinced" the other girls who were now with her to slip away from home as well. These were the girls who had gone:

Samantha Potts, the rude and bossy troop leader; Ginny Staves, a girl who was always snacking; Amanda and Andrea Thripp, the twins who were usually arguing; and of course Lily Small, the youngest and most conscientious girl in the group.

They spent most of the early morning knocking on doors and looking for customers to buy their cookies, but either it was too early or the weather was too cold. Most people did not seem interested in buying Girl Scout cookies today. It probably didn't help that Samantha talked too loud, almost shouting, whenever someone opened their door. Amanda and Andrea, the twins, didn't make the situation any better as they bickered over who would be the one to handle the money...not that there was any money to handle. Ginny could have said something to help, but her mouth was filled with a Thin Mint that she had sneaked from one of the boxes in the wagon.

Lily said nothing, and only followed the group from house to house, pulling the wagon behind her.

By mid-morning, they had come out of the neighborhood and found themselves on a deserted street. On one side there was a series of office buildings, the kind that all look identically cold and sterile and unwelcoming. On the other side, where they were standing, was a tall, brick wall that was broken only by the bars of an imposing iron gate. Through the gaps in the gate, the girls could see an equally imposing factory...the factory of Willy Wonka! It had reopened a month ago, after lying closed for ages. But now no workers could be seen or heard within the factory walls. The only sound was a distant rumbling of machinery, and the crunching of of an occasional car passing on the street outside. It was spooky. It looked haunted. But like moths drawn to flame, all five of the girls felt an irresistible pull that bid them to stand in front of the gate, hold onto the chilly, wrought-iron bars, and peer in. After a long moment of staring, Samantha snickered nastily, startling the other girls.

"What's that for?" Amanda snapped, hiding her startled expression with a scowl.

"Yeah, what's so funny?" Andrea asked.

"Just that you're all standing here like scared little babies," Samantha said, smirking in Lily's direction. "But there's no reason to be scared."

"But what about the ghosts?" Ginny mumbled, spraying the crumbs of a coconut cookie from her mouth. "My mum said this place is haunted."

"Don't be stupid," Samantha retorted. "There's no such thing as ghosts. The telly might make you think so, but it's only a bunch of smoke and mirrors and special effects."

"Then who's running the factory?" Andrea asked "No one ever goes in."

"And no one ever goes out," Amanda said.

Samantha rolled her eyes. " _Obviously_ it's all run by machines. Someone has taken over the factory and made it all automatic to cut down on cost."

"What about Willy Wonka?" Lily asked quietly.

Samantha turned quickly to look at her, like she was surprised that Lily had spoken at all. "What was that, shrimp?"

"You said someone took over, but what if it's Willy Wonka come back? My parents told me lovely stories about him. It would be wonderful if he was here again."

Samantha sneered at her. "Of course you would think that - you're not grown up. So you wouldn't know. Willy Wonka is dead. My parents say he was murdered by Ficklegruber, and that all his recipes and belongings were cleared out. In fact, it's probably Ficklegruber that's running the factory now."

"Or Willy Wonka's ghost," Amanda quipped, and she shared a dark laugh with her twin.

Samantha sighed impatiently. "Didn't I just explain to you that there are no ghosts? And here...I'll prove it to you. I'll climb over the gate and go knock on the door. Someone will probably come out and yell at me, but I'll just say I got in by accident through some back door."

"I don't believe you," Amanda said.

"But go on and do it if you're so brave," Andrea added, giving Samantha a taunting grin.

Samantha grimaced. "Fine." she shoved the clipboard she had been carrying into Ginny's grimy hands. Then she grabbed onto the rungs of the gate. She hoisted herself up and up, then climbed over and down. she dropped lightly onto the cobblestone walkway on the other side, pausing to adjust her belt and coat. The other girls watched tensely as she approached the door. It was red and wooden and looked like it hasn't been used in ages. Samantha seemed to hesitate as she raised her hand to knock. But then she did, and she yelped in surprise when the door swung open slightly, like it had been left ajar. Samantha waved urgently at the other girls.

"Get over here!" she hissed. "The door is open!"


	2. Behind the Door

The girls at the gate shared anxious glances, but Amanda made up her mind first and scaled the gate. Andrea followed quickly after, and then Ginny...though she paused long enough to discreetly gobble down another cookie. Lily was the last one on the outside of the gate, and she clung tightly to the handle of the wagon while she watched the others.

"Come on, Lily," Amanda urged. "Don't be a scaredy cat."

"We should probably just leave her," Andrea said. "She's probably too afraid."

"I'm just worried about the cookies," Lily said meekly.

"She has a good point," Ginny said, brushing crumbs off her uniform. "Samantha would have a fit if someone stole them all."

"Here," Andrea said, reaching through the bars, "Pass the boxes through and then climb over. We can carry them with us to the door." When Lily hesitated, Amanda added, "If you come, then we can see if Willy Wonka is there or not."

Lily slowly nodded and started passing the boxes one by one through the gate. When the wagon was empty, she pushed it next to the brick wall, then she climbed over the gate.

The four girls carried the boxes of cookies up to the door, laying them on a dry patch of ground before joining Samantha to peer into the dimness that loomed beyond the opening. They couldn't make anything out, but there were marvelous smells - lemon peel and cinnamon and mint and vanilla and apple blossom and toasted marshmallow...and under all that, the wonderful aroma of rich, melted chocolate! Samantha reached out to push the door open wider, but before she could touch it, the door swung open of its own accord and a man stepped out! All of the girls gasped in astonishment. The man standing in front of them was dressed in the strangest clothes they had ever seen - a dark purple suit, a deep red overcoat, and shiny black loafers. A purple bowtie was knotted neatly at his neck, and on his head was perched a marvelous top hat.

"You're Willy Wonka!" Lily cried excitedly. The other girls said nothing. They seemed to be surprised speechless and frozen in shock. The man who was indeed Willy Wonka smiled brightly at Lily, then he looked at the other girls in concern.

"Yes, that's me. But I'm afraid I didn't order anything, and it seems your friends are stiff from the cold."

"We're not delivering anything," Lily explained shyly, "We're selling Girl Scout cookies."

"Oh!" Wonka brightened. "I don't suppose you have those lemonade cookies? I'd love to buy some. But here - why don't you bring your friends inside so you can warm up while I get my wallet?" He swung the door open all the way, and with a little pulling and nudging, Lily got the other girls to shuffle inside.

"Come over here and warm up for a bit while I get my wallet," Wonka said kindly. The five girls followed him down a short corridor that opened up into a much larger space. It was wide enough to drive two cars side by side, and the ceiling stretched high up above them. It was gloriously warm and the air was filled with those wonderful aromas that they had smelled from outside.

"Now, sit here, and I'll be back in a few minutes," Wonka said, showing them a sitting area that had comfortable-looking chairs and a short table stacked with various magazines. The girls went to sit on the chairs, but as soon as Wonka disappeared around the corner, Ginny seemed to shake off her stupor. She squealed excitedly. "We're actually in Willy Wonka's factory!"

"Maybe he'll let us have free candy!" Amanda whispered, grinning.

"Guess you were wrong after all, Samantha," Andrea said. "There might not be ghosts, but Mr. Wonka is still alive!"

"Shut up," Samantha snapped. "And it doesn't matter anyway. I have an idea that could get us free candy for the rest of our lives. Maybe even money so we won't have to sell anymore stupid cookies." She smiled mischievously, lowering her voice. "So Willy Wonka is alive - I will admit I was wrong about that. But why would he keep it a secret for so long? I think he has things here that he wants to keep hidden from the rest of the world...so why don't we look around a little bit and find out what it is? I bet other candymakers would pay lots of money to learn what we find out, and they could give us candy, too."

"But what if we get caught?" Ginny fretted. "Mr. Wonka would get mad."

"We'll just say that we got lost looking for the bathroom or something," Samantha said. "Besides, we're just kids. What could he possibly do to us?"

 _Administrative Offices, Surveillance Room_

"I'd like to know where they came from," Willy Wonka was saying as he glanced at a monitor showing footage of the sitting area where he had left the Girl Scouts. A dozen tiny men, Oompa-Loompas, were busily typing and pressing buttons at their workstations. One Oompa-Loompa, a shiny badge on his shoulder indicating him as the chief of security, stood next to Wonka and gazed at the screen. "As far as we can tell from the security footage, sir, they climbed over the gate on a dare. But intelligence records show they're just local kids trying to meet their quota of cookie sales for this year's Jamboree. I imagine that they are usually accompanied by an adult, but it seems like these girls sneaked off to do some selling on their own. I have to admit it's a good strategy to beat the competition."

Willy Wonka frowned. "Sneaking off and trespassing don't seem like skills the Girl Scouts would want to promote. But now they're here, and I am curious about how well-behaved they are. Wait - it looks like they're discussing something. Let's see what they do."

Back in the sitting area, Samantha slid off her chair and led the other girls over to one of five coloured hallways. This one was painted orange and seemed to be filled with the smell of tangerine and lemon peel and peaches and licorice...but she stopped when she realized the whole troop was not following. She turned around to see Lily still sitting on her chair, looking uncomfortable but resistant. Samantha stomped back to her, while the other three girls watched.

"What are you doing, shrimp? You're supposed to follow me. We're a troop, right? A team."

"But Mr. Wonka said to wait here," Lily said quietly. "He wouldn't want us wandering off."

"What would you know?" Samantha sneered, reaching out to grab Lily by the shirt sleeve. She tried to drag her off the chair, but Lily clung to her seat.

"I'm older, so you have to do what I say," Samantha growled. "And I say you're coming with us!"

Lily clung to the chair as hard as she could, but Samantha was bigger and stronger...she fiercely tugged Lily off the chair and the smaller girl hit the tiled floor with a thud. She gasped in surprise and pain, but she did not cry, defiantly crossing her arms as she lay on the ground. Samantha reached down to grab her by the collar, but Amanda stopped her.

"Hey, just leave her. Mr. Wonka will be back any minute."

"Yeah," Andrea agreed, "She's just wasting our time."

Samantha looked like she was going to snap at them, but she nodded and glared at Lily instead.

"Stay here then, shrimp. But if anyone asks, we're just looking for the bathroom. Got it?"

Lily said nothing, but Samantha took that as an agreement. "Okay. Let's get going." She and the other girls went back to the orange hall and walked in, rounding the corner and vanishing from sight. Now alone, and still on the floor, Lily curled up and cried.


	3. Sneak Peek

**A/N**

: Thank you _JOHNHAMMOND1993_ and _The Silly_ _Storyteller_ for your comments! Amanda Thripp is indeed from Roald Dahl's Matilda, but the Amanda in this story is not meant to be the same one. Syllables are rather important later in the story.

* * *

Back in the surveillance room, Wonka was staring at the screen, his face twisted in compassion...and anger.

"I can't believe what I just saw," the security chief murmured, shaking his head. "Poor kid. It's a shame that no one else stood up for her, but she seems pretty brave for resisting someone bigger and stronger than her."

"Indeed." Wonka cupped his chin thoughtfully. "You know, Jenku, I think if no one else will stand up for this little girl, then we will have to. I don't know how long she has had to be part of this miserable troop, but we may be the first bit of kindness that she has received in a long while." His eyes twinkled with mischief. "And besides, we have four intruders who are wandering into top secret areas. They need to be apprehended...and taught a lesson."

Jenku, the security chief, grinned. "Consider it done, sir."

Meanwhile, Samantha and the other three girls walked down the orange hall for what seemed like a very long time. It stretched farther than any hallway they had ever seen, and it seemed to go on forever. Samantha was beginning to regret her decision to sneak off, when they came to a large door. There were words engraved on a shiny placard mounted on the door which read: BOILED SWEETS ROOM. Samantha tried the door handle, not surprised to find it was locked.

"Too bad we don't get badges for learning how to pick locks," Amanda remarked.

"We don't need to," Andrea said, turning a smaller handle that no one else had noticed before. A smaller door set into the large door swung open, but since it was only three feet high, they had to crawl on their hands and knees to get through. They stood up and looked around, amazed by the sight. This was more of a warehouse than a room, a huge space with a ceiling that stretched high above them. The floor was occupied by towering machines and bubbling vats and twisting pipes. In the center of the room was the biggest vat of all - at least ten feet tall and ten feet wide, made entirely of a clear plastic or glass so that you could see a creamy-coloured liquid bubbling inside.

"Whoa," Amanda whispered, and the rest silently agreed.

"Let's split up so we can see as much as we can," Samantha said. "We'll meet back here in five minutes."

"What if we get caught?" Ginny asked.

By who?" Samantha scoffed, pointing at the machines. "I don't see anyone. Like I said before, It's all automatic."

"You also said Willy Wonka was dead," Andrea muttered, but Samantha didn't hear her.

"Okay," Samantha said, "I'll go this way, along the wall. Ginny, you can go that way, past the weird machine that's making the beeping noises. Andrea can take the that path by that buzzing machine with the green lights, and Amanda can go down that way, under those funny-looking pipes."

They broke off to their assigned paths, looking around with a mix of wonder and caution. Samantha walked along the path she had chosen, eyeing the strange, gleaming devices. Some seemed to be spitting out marbles of different colors, but then she realized they were candies. She snagged one off a conveyor belt and popped it in her mouth. How sweet and creamy it was! Even better than the store-bought kind. She reached out to snatch another, when she caught something moving out of the corner of her eye. She whirled around and stared, wide-eyed and disbelieving. There was a tiny man, no taller than two feet, staring back at her from a control booth. He was wearing a jumpsuit that was stamped with the Wonka Company logo.

"You...you work here?" Samantha stammered, both amazed and terrified.

The little man (who was an Oompa-Loompa) only smiled at her and pressed a button. Sirens started going off, and dozens of little men appeared from behind the machines. They ran toward Samantha, and she fled in terror. The same thing happened to Amanda and Andrea and Ginny. It was quite a sight, each of the girls being pursued around the machines by a horde of Oompa-Loompas. Samantha, Andrea, and Ginny managed to lose their pursuers and run back to the door, where they slid back into the hallway and continued to run. But Amanda had lost her way.

Amanda tried to run back the way she came, but the little men were coming toward her from that direction. She tried to cut through by jumping over some pipes and rounding a bend, but then she got turned around and found herself at the huge, cream-filled vat at the center of the room. She looked around wildly to try to get her bearings, but the little men had caught up and came rushing toward her. Panicking, Amanda leapt up on a control console to get out of their reach. Her foot pressed down on a large switch, and abruptly the little men started shouting something in a foreign language, and they ran away in the opposite direction. Amanda turned around to see what they were running from...and she screamed. The huge vat was tipping over right above her, and she only managed to snatch a gasp of air before a wave of cream-coloured liquid crashed over her. It carried her across the room, and she narrowly missed crashing against some of the other machines. The wave lost its momentum and settled, leaving the entire room flooded with several inches of the cream-coloured sludge.

Amanda lay face-up in the sludge-pool, dazed but otherwise unharmed. Her face and toes were the only parts of her sticking up out of the surface, and by the time she came to, she was horrified to discover that these were the only parts of her that she could move. The sludge...which was the very thing that Everlasting Gobstoppers and Wonka's Viking-style boiled sweet boat were made of...had hardened. And now Amanda was held fast. She screamed and cried (what else could she do) until she felt something touching her face. It was one of the little men. She started screaming again, but he hushed her and spoke to her in English.

"Hey, we're gonna get you out, okay kid? What's your name, anyway?"

"Amanda Thripp," Amanda sobbed.

"Don't worry, Amanda. We've got it. My friends and I will get you out. Just sit tight. Hey, it looks like some of the guys will entertain you with a song while we work!"

And with that said, the little man pulled out a marker and started marking out a large rectangle around Amanda on the hard candy surface. As he was doing this, he was joined by little men that were wearing hardhats and overalls. Then other little men in the room started up a beat and began to sing:

 _Amanda Thripp! Amanda Thripp!_

 _Amanda Thripp, we're glad to say,_

 _Has learnt a little more today_

 _About the reason rules are there -_

 _Why we should watch, why we should care_

 _About instructions and the rules_

 _(This candy's hard, go get the tools)._

 _Just listen to what grown-ups say,_

 _Like "Stay right there! Don't go away!"_

 _It's not because they don't want fun_

 _Or happiness for everyone,_

 _But rules keep us away from harm_

 _(Don't drill right there, you'll cut her arm)._

 _If it wasn't for the rules,_

 _There'd be chaos in our schools_

 _And in the stores and on the road,_

 _And even in the ol' abode._

 _And so we feel that all should see_

 _How terrible "no rules" would be._

 _We hope Amanda Thripp has learned,_

 _And is a tad bit more concerned_

 _With doing just as she is told -_

 _A virtue worth its weight in gold._

 _Doing this, she might be saved_

 _From a very early grave._

 _As for freeing her, no luck._

 _(Get the saw. She's pretty stuck)._

In the sitting area, Lily had stopped crying, but she still sniffled a little bit as she sat up with her knees drawn up to her chest. Her shoulder was sore where she had hit the ground, but Samantha had done worse to her before. She rubbed her shoulder gently, wincing when she touched the swelling bruise.

"Are you all right?"

Lily looked up to see Willy Wonka coming over to her, his brow furrowed in concern.

"I, uh, fell off my chair," Lily said quietly. "I'm waiting for everyone to come back from the restroom."

Wonka knelt beside her and handed her a handkerchief to dry her tears.

"You don't have to lie for them," he said gently. "I know they wandered off. But my people will find them, don't you worry."

"Your people?" Lily echoed.

Wonka grinned. "You'll see. Would you like some hot chocolate?"

Lily nodded, and Wonka spoke into a lapel mike hidden in his bowtie.

"Jenku, some hot chocolate, please."

A minute or so later, Jenku appeared from one of the coloured hallways carrying a steaming mug. He brought it to Wonka, who presented it to Lily. Lily accepted the mug gratefully, but she couldn't stop staring at the tiny man who stood next to Wonka.

"Is he one of your people?" Lily asked.

"Yes," Wonka said cheerfully. "He is an Oompa-Loompa, from Loompaland."

Lily didn't need to ask what that meant - she just accepted it, smiling brightly as she took a sip of the hot chocolate.

Wonka watched her enjoying the hot chocolate, and a small seed of hope sprouted in his tired heart. There were indeed terrible people in the world, like those who had swindled and robbed Wonka of his secret recipes...and that girl who had bullied Lily, but there were still good people, too. He resolved to find one of those good people to take his place someday, but it would have to be done properly, officially. Perhaps through a contest of some kind. But that was a matter for another time. The least he could do for now was bring comfort to this good, precious child. As for those who were bad...they needed to be punished.


	4. Television Chocolate

_Orange Corridor_

"What happened to Amanda?" Samantha demanded. Ginny and Andrea were with her, huddled in the orange hallway. They'd made it out of the BOILED SWEETS ROOM and a rather long ways down the hall, but they hadn't realized Amanda wasn't with them until now.

"Those creepy little guys must've got her," Ginny gasped, still catching her breath. Andrea frowned. "We have to go back for her. What if they do something to her?"

"I think we have bigger things to worry about, like _what_ those guys are," Samantha said. "Are they mutants? Robots? Weird little aliens? Also, they can hide a lot better than we can, and there's a lot of them. I thought dealing with one shrimp was bad enough, but hundreds of them? No, thank you. I'm not going back there."

"But my sister…" Andrea murmured. "I thought we were all supposed to help each other."

"Samantha sighed. "Don't be such a -"

"Run!" Ginny screamed, barreling through their conversation. More of the little men were coming at them from down the hall, and they were wearing some kind of security uniforms. Samantha and Andrea broke into a run, and the three girls sped through corridor after corridor as fast as their legs could carry them. The hall colour changed from orange to green to white, and then the white hall split into three different-coloured halls, the girls were panting and near-fainting, but they hadn't earned their physical-fitness badges for nothing.

"Split up!" Samantha shouted. "Find a place to hide until they're gone, and get back to the entrance!"

The other two girls looked frightened, but they had no time to argue. Samantha darted into the left hall, which was yellow. Ginny ran into the center hall, which was blue. Andrea leapt into the hall on the right, which was purple. She was still worried about her sister, which is probably why she didn't notice the giant candybar on the floor in front of her until she tripped over it and fell flat on the floor. She lay dazed for a moment, but the sound of her pursuers running in her direction made her scramble to her feet. She looked for a place to hide, eyes locking on a door marked TELEVISION CHOCOLATE ROOM. The door was partly open, so she darted in and closed it behind her. The room was dim - a blue light in the high ceiling cast an eerie glow on everything in the room...but there wasn't much to see. There appeared to be a couch and TV on one end of the room, and a weird sort of camera and stage on the other end. Andrea went over to the couch and found a set of sunglasses. _Why would anyone need sunglasses here?_ She wondered. Then suddenly a blinding light flashed on. Andrea slammed her eyes shut and pulled on the sunglasses. It took her eyes a second to adjust, but now she could see that the room was dazzlingly white...and the tiny men had found her! They were pulling on their own glasses and running toward her. Thinking only to get as far from them as she could, Andrea ran toward the weird camera. She thought if she could climb it, the little men might not be able to reach her. She sprinted to the other end of the room, narrowly dodging the clutches of the little men that jumped at her. She jumped to get up on the stage, her foot pushing against a large, red button as she reached the top…

There was another blinding flash, and then darkness. _I dropped the sunglasses,_ Andrea thought, _and now I've gone blind!_ She reached her hands out, but felt nothing. She tried to call out for help, even from the weird little men, but she couldn't move her mouth. She couldn't even feel her mouth. But then she could, and then she could feel her shoulders, her elbows, her hands and knees and feet. She opened her eyes, and saw a strange fizzing blur of grey and black and white. She wondered why it looked familiar. Then she realized where she had seen it before - on the television screen. She turned around and felt all the color drain from her face. It was like she was looking through a huge window back into the bright, white room where she had just been. The little men were doing something to the camera on the far end, while one of them came up to Andrea, his face growing alarmingly huge as he drew near.

"Help!" Andrea screamed. "Where am i?"

The little man looked apologetic. "I'm afraid you're in trouble, kid. But I'll explain later. What's your name?"

"Andrea Thripp," Andrea said, wondering what it mattered.

"Well, Andrea," the little man said, "the hard truth is that you are stuck in a television screen. You jumped in front of an experimental camera that sends candy through the air to a television set. Problem is, we don't know how to get the candy out of the screen yet. It's still a fairly new technology."

Andrea felt tears welling up in her eyes.

"Aw, don't cry," the little man said. "Look, here come some of our best scientists to work on the problem. If anyone can get you out, they can."

Andrea looked and saw a number of the little men wearing white lab coats coming up to the television that she was stuck in. They wrote furiously in their notebooks and mumbled things in a different language. Behind them, a few little men in white jumpsuits started beatboxing, and the little man talking to Andrea grinned. "How's that? Those guys are going to sing you a little song to cheer you up while our scientists come up with a solution!"

Andrea Thripp! they sang,

 _How terrible! A tragedy!_

 _Andrea Thripp stuck on TV!_

 _Or, to be more accurate,_

 _She's trapped inside the TV set!_

 _And we are pretty sad to say_

 _That as of yet, there is no way_

 _To get her out this square machine_

 _We can't reach_ through _a TV screen…_

 _But wait a minute - hold your shorts!_

 _We hadn't thought of that before!_

 _Instead of making candy pass,_

 _Make the hand reach through the glass!_

 _Researchers, go grab your pens,_

 _Your calculators, papers, then_

 _Get started on this new breaththrough!_

 _(Andrea, no time now for you)_

 _You'll have to wait on this invention_

 _(just think of it as your detention)_

 _We'll make it better than before_

 _We'll take our time, just to be sure_

 _And then we'll get you out of there,_

 _Pinky promise, double swear._

 _But there's a lot of work ahead._

 _We have to go, and with that said -_

 _We'll tend to you another day._

 _(Let's put that TV set away)._


	5. The Ice Lolly Room

**A/N**

: In answer to the guest question, this story is based off a combination of the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the 2005 movie adaptation. It is written to precede. our earlier stories "The Unknown Tour" and "The Visit", and all take place before our parodies "The Truth Behind the Tour" and its sequel "The Great Glass Catastrophe".

* * *

Ginny hadn't run very far down the blue corridor before she came across a door marked ICE LOLLIES ROOM. She was very hot and sweaty from all the running she had done, and an ice lolly sounded very good. She also needed a place to hide. She remembered to try the smaller door handle first, and was glad to find it unlocked. The little door opened and a gust of refreshing, cold air came through. Ginny quickly crawled through the opening and closed the door. She turned around to see what sort of room she had come into, and her mouth dropped open in sheer wonder. This room, like the BOILED SWEETS ROOM, was huge. But instead of machines and pipes, this room held what looked like a snow-covered park. There were gentle hills and trees and plants covered with a fine, white dusting of snow. Or was it snow? Ginny touched a white-powdered tree trunk and experimentally tasted it. It was powdered sugar! So was everything else here edible? Ginny felt her tummy leap in excitement as she plucked a leaf from one of the trees and tasted it, surprised by the sweet, minty flavour. Next she tried some of the tree bark, pleased to find that it tasted like peppermint. She wandered through the room, trying different things, until she came upon a number of giant ice lollies stuck in the ground by their sticks. They looked like strange trees, and there were many different colours and sizes. Ginny had cooled down by now, but she wanted to taste one of the ice lollies...that blue one there, with the white stripes. She stuck out her tongue and licked the ice lolly...but then her tongue got stuck, flash-freezing to the icy surface. Ginny tried to pull her tongue off, but that only made it hurt. She tried to put her hands against the ice lolly to gently push herself off, but then her hands got stuck as well. She tried to use her knees...and then she was completely stuck to the ice lolly...and she felt the cold seeping into her body. She tried to call out for help, but that is rather hard to do with a frozen tongue. She started panicking, until she noticed one of the little men standing nearby. She tried to say "help me," but it came out as a sort of gargle. The little man looked at her sympathetically. "You seem to be in a sticky situation. Maybe I can help. What is your name, dear?"

Ginny gargled her name, or something close to it.

"Ginny Stave?" The little man asked.

Ginny nodded as much as her stuck tongue would allow. "I want to get out," she tried to say. The little man shrugged. "I'm not sure what you're saying," he said, but I'm sure it's some sort of apology. You shouldn't steal, especially when it comes to candy. You are apologizing, right?"

Ginny made another gargle, this one sounding like "are you crazy?!" The little man shook his head. "I understand. You're not sorry because you think you're not doing any harm, right? But a life of crime always leads down a dangerous path, and that's exactly how you got here." Ginny felt her stomach turn to ice, and it wasn't just because she was getting colder. Several more of the little men appeared, all of them wearing thick parkas and snow skis.

"Ginny Stave!" They chanted,

 _Goodness gracious! Holy cow!_

 _Ginny's sure in trouble now!_

 _Her tongue is stuck, her lips are blue,_

 _She can't get free! What will she do?_

 _As snow is falling on her nose,_

 _And frosty cold climbs up her toes,_

 _Will she find some tears to squeeze_

 _Before her eyes and blood all freeze?_

 _Or maybe she's not sorry for_

 _All the wrong she's done before_

 _By eating things that aren't hers._

 _(How often does that wrong occur?)_

 _Stealing things is wrong, that's true,_

 _But stealing candy will not do!_

 _Candy is meant to be shared,_

 _But Ginny doesn't seem to care._

 _That she hadn't been invited_

 _She just took, and was delighted_

 _But will she be happy even if_

 _She's frozen solid, frozen stiff?_

 _Freezing her might cure her wrongs_

 _(It really shouldn't take too long)_

 _All we can do is wait and see_

 _What this girl will do or be_

 _And maybe later, we will find_

 _That Ginny Stave will change her mind._


	6. Candied Fruit

**A/N:** _Though we had not intended to specify an age, Lily and the other girls in her troop are between nine and eleven years old. Lily is the youngest, so she is nine._

 _If you think about it, the songs and dances of the Oompa-Loompas during the Golden Ticket Tour all seemed rather well rehearsed. They must have had practice from incidents that happened before...like this one._

 **Thanks to** : JOHNHAMMOND1992elevat0r _, and_ TheFastFox _for your comments and questions!_

Samantha had run down the yellow corridor until she found a room marked CANDIED FRUITS ROOM. She ducked inside, crouching beside the door until she heard the footsteps of her pursuers run past, then fade away. She sighed in relief, wondering how long she should wait until trying to make a break back to the entrance. It probably wouldn't be worth it by now - Willy Wonka would have found out that she had sneaked off with the others. Lily probably ratted them out, anyway...thinking about it made Samantha angry, and she knew that when she got back, she would have to pay a little...visit...to that shrimpy girl. Samantha had only ever agreed to let Lily join the troop because their mothers were good friends, but Samantha couldn't stand that little goody-two shoes with the cute face and soft spoken voice. Samantha didn't want to admit that she was jealous of her...so she bullied her. _And I'm going to bully her even harder when I get out of this_ , she thought savagely. Then she turned to see what sort of room she was in, and her thoughts paused. This room looked a lot like the BOILED SWEETS ROOM, but all the machinery here was shiny and brightly polished. There were carts and barrels full of fresh fruits of all kinds, and some that Samantha had never seen the likes of before. There were conveyor belts laden with fruits that fed them into large chutes. Where it went, Samantha couldn't begin to guess, but if the name of the room had anything to do with it, she imagined the fruits were put in machines to be candied or something. She decided to get a closer look at some of the strange fruits in one of the barrels nearby, when she heard a shout.

"Hey!"

She looked to the side to see one of the little men pointing at her, and three more of them came running after her. She took off running and jumped up on an empty cart. The little men tried to climb up after her, but she took a flying leap and landed on a conveyor belt, her feet squashing peeled bananas and cut apples and washed pears. One of the little men pushed a button, stopping the conveyor belt so that they could get on it to chase her. She ran across it and leapt onto another belt, this one covered with diced pineapples and mangos. The little men tried to follow. Samantha started running again, but this conveyor belt was slick and slippery from the fruit. She slipped and fell, sliding down the conveyor belt until she screamed, dropped into the open chute, and disappeared. The little men anxiously checked the machines and found the one that she had fallen into. It was marked Freeze-dried Candy Fruit. Though there was no one to sing to, the little men started up a slow song:

 _This poor girl, oh my! Oh dear!_

 _Just came right in and fell (we fear)_

 _Down a chute, a duct, a slide,_

 _Into a chamber just inside_

 _Where candied fruits are washed and dyed,_

 _Packaged neat to be freeze-dried._

 _What made her think that she could sneak_

 _Off on her own to take a peek_

 _Where even grown-ups cannot go?_

 _What possessed her? (We don't know)._

 _That's why kids can't be alone_

 _At the mall or even home_

 _Or on the road, or at the park,_

 _Or on the bus, or in the dark._

 _Children need to take more care -_

 _Predators lurk everywhere_

 _(But we are glad this is what got her)_

 _To bring her back, we'll just add water._


	7. Conclusion

**A/N:** _Thanks to all our lovely readers! This is the final installment of this story - we hope you enjoyed it! If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please PM us and let us know!_

WV1

* * *

Lily looked up from the book that Jenku had given her to read. She saw Willy Wonka coming out from one of the coloured hallways, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Did you find them?" Lily asked.

"Wonka smiled. "Of course! They had gotten lost in one of the hallways - there are so many of them, you see. It's like a maze. I even get turned around sometimes!"

Lily glanced behind him. "But Mr. Wonka, where are they?"

"Not to worry. I had them call their parents to take them home and have a stern talking to. Children should know not to wander through places like factories on their own."

"But now I'll have to walk home on my own," Lily said worriedly.

"Nonsense," Wonka said. "I'll have Jenku drive you. He has a special car with raised pedals. He drives me all the time."

Lily smiled one of her shy smiles. "Thank you, Mr. Wonka."

Wonka smiled back...trying hard not to think of the four trapped girls now being kept in one of the storage rooms, or of the memory-freezing pill he had slipped into Lily's hot chocolate earlier.

"You're absolutely welcome."

 _One year later…_

Lily smiled cheerfully as she led the troop from house to house, no longer regretting her decision to join the Girl Scouts. She knew it had to do with the mysterious disappearance of Samantha and three of the other girls, though she was a little ashamed to think that way. No one knew what had become of them, and when Lily was asked if she knew where they had gone on the day they went missing, she could only say no. To be honest, she couldn't remember anything from that day. But...sometimes she had dreams about climbing over a gate, a kind man in a top hat, and the best hot chocolate she had ever tasted.

Deep in the underground heart of Wonka's factory, the Oompa-Loompa named Jenku walked into Storeroom #473. It was a large space rather like a garage, lit by overhead spotlights and was comfortably air conditioned. There were rows upon rows of shelves, large and small. And on the shelves, there was an odd collection of things. A television set with a screaming girl on the screen, a deep frozen popsicle with a deep frozen girl stuck on it, a girl-shaped package of freeze-dried fruit, and a large, rectangular block of rock-hard candy with a girl's crying face sticking out of it. These, of course, were the Girl Scouts who had broken the rules nearly a year ago after they sneaked into the factory. Jenku felt a pang of sympathy for them, but he also knew that they would be worse off if they were out in the world. They could hurt themselves, and hurt other people in the process. Yes, it was better they were here, under his watchful eye. It would take more time to cure these four of their bad manners and selfish ways, but he was confident it could be done. And the shelves had room for many more...


End file.
